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Author | Robin Jarvis |
---|---|
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Series | The Deptford Mouselets |
Genre | Dark fantasy |
Publisher | Hodder Headline |
Publication date | 14 October 2004 |
Media type | Print (paperback) |
Pages | 240 |
ISBN | 978-0-340-85510-2 |
OCLC | 670447561 |
Followed by | Whortle's Hope |
Fleabee's Fortune is a dark fantasy novel for children by British author Robin Jarvis. It is the first book in The Deptford Mouselets series, prequels to Jarvis's Deptford Mice trilogy aimed at a slightly younger audience. [1] It was first published in the United Kingdom in 2004. [2] The story is set in the sewers of Deptford and focuses on a rat girl named Fleabee who is unusually kindhearted.
Fleabee, a young rat living in the sewers of Deptford, is unlike others of her kind. She is good-natured and doesn't wish to harm anything. However, the Festival of the First Blood is approaching, a coming-of-age tradition for the rats when they must commit their first murder. If they fail to do so, they will be killed themselves. Even the dark magic of Jupiter, lord of the rats, cannot instill bloodlust in Fleabee.
Though rat culture requires that they be cold and uncaring, Fleabee's mother Klakkweena is secretly concerned for her daughter's safety. She wonders if Fleabee is not meant to follow Jupiter but the Raith Sidhe, the three ancient usurped gods of the rats. Klakkweena surreptitiously takes Fleabee to the fortune-teller Madame Akkikuyu, who agrees that Fleabee should consult Mabb, the goddess of the Raith Sidhe. Akkikuyu gives Fleabee a Mabb Rest, a special pillow used to summon her in dreams. That night, not only does Mabb appear but also 'Orace Baldmony, the ghost of a rat who defected from Jupiter and converted to the religion of the benevolent Green Mouse. Baldmony tells Fleabee she has a good heart and should resist the evil Mabb. But Fleabee cannot see another way out of her predicament and agrees to become Mabb's new high priestess. When she wakes up, Fleabee finds an amethyst-encrusted dagger on her pillow, a gift from the goddess.
At the Festival of the First Blood, Fleabee keeps wondering what Mabb is going to do to help save her. Then a light appears on the enchanted dagger, and she is led to an ancient temple of the Raith Sidhe hidden deep within the sewers. In it are three altars dedicated to the deities Hobb, Mabb, and Bauchan. Behind the altar of Mabb, Fleabee suddenly hears frightened sobs. A young grey squirrel named Ambrose is hiding there. He was captured that night for the purpose of being a victim for the juvenile rats, and managed to escape from them. Fleabee realises that Mabb intends for her to sacrifice Ambrose on the altar. She refuses, stating that she wouldn't kill for Jupiter and she won't for Mabb either. 'Orace Baldmony's ghost appears and informs Fleabee that she must leave the sewers as soon as possible. After telling her sister Scabmona goodbye, Fleabee escapes with Ambrose to the world above where she plans to start a new life. The epilogue reveals that one day after many years have gone by, Fleabee will return to the sewers and have a final confrontation with the affronted and vengeful Mabb.
In writing this book Jarvis says he "wanted to show life from the rat point of view for a change and had lots of fun with it, especially with Fleabee's sister, the completely horrible Scabmona." [3]
Minerva is the Roman goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of defensive war only. From the second century BC onward, the Romans equated her with the Greek goddess Athena. Minerva is one of the three Roman deities in the Capitoline Triad, along with Jupiter and Juno.
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Robin Jarvis is a British Young-Adult fiction (YA) and children's novelist, who writes dark fantasy, suspense and supernatural thrillers. His books for young adults have featured the inhabitants of a coastal town battling a monumental malevolence with the help of its last supernatural guardian (The Witching Legacy), a diminutive race of Werglers pitched against the evil might of the faerie hordes (The Hagwood Trilogy), a sinister "world-switching" dystopian future, triggered by a sinister and hypnotic book (Dancing Jax), Norse Fates, Glastonbury crow-demons and a time travelling, wise-cracking teddy bear. (The Wyrd Museum series), dark powers, a forgotten race and ancient evils on the North Yorkshire coast (The Whitby Witches trilogy), epic medieval adventure (The Oaken Throne) and science-fiction dramatising the "nefarious intrigue" within an alternate Tudor realm, peopled by personalities of the time, automata servants and animals known as Mechanicals and ruled by Queen Elizabeth I. (Deathscent).
The Alchymist's Cat is a dark fantasy novel for children by British author Robin Jarvis. It is the first book in The Deptford Histories trilogy, a series of prequels to Jarvis's Deptford Mice books. Set in 17th century London, it serves as a backstory for the original trilogy's main antagonist, Jupiter. It was first published in the United Kingdom in 1991 by Macdonald Young Books. In 2004, it was published in the United States by Chronicle Books as The Alchemist's Cat.
The Oaken Throne is a dark fantasy novel for children by British author Robin Jarvis. It is the second book in The Deptford Histories trilogy, a series of prequels to Jarvis's Deptford Mice books. It was first published in the United Kingdom in 1993 by Macdonald Young Books. In 2005, it was published in the United States by Chronicle Books.
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The Crystal Prison is a dark fantasy novel for children by British author Robin Jarvis. It is the second book in The Deptford Mice trilogy, first published in the United Kingdom in 1989 by Macdonald & Company, London. In 2001, it was published by SeaStar Books in the United States. The book continues the story of the young house mouse Audrey after she and her friends have defeated the evil cat Jupiter, lord of the sewer rats.
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Ratcatcher is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books and other media published by DC Comics, primarily as an enemy of Batman. He belongs to the collective of adversaries that make up the Dark Knight's rogues gallery. Once an actual rat-catcher in Gotham City, Otis Flannegan sank into a life of crime. Calling himself the Ratcatcher because of his special ability to communicate with and train rats, Flannegan has used his minions to plague Gotham on more than one occasion by unleashing hordes of the vermin.
Whortle's Hope is a dark fantasy novel for children by British author Robin Jarvis. It is the second book in The Deptford Mouselets series, prequels to Jarvis's Deptford Mice trilogy aimed at a slightly younger audience. It was first published in the United Kingdom in 2007. The story focuses on Whortle Nep, a fieldmouse who was a minor character in The Crystal Prison, and is set a year prior to that book's events.
The Deptford Mice is a trilogy of children's dark fantasy novels by British author Robin Jarvis. The first book, The Dark Portal, was published in 1989 by Macdonald & Company in London, followed that same year by The Crystal Prison and then The Final Reckoning in 1990. The trilogy tells the story of a young mouse girl named Audrey Brown and her friends as they fight Jupiter, the evil living god of the sewer rats in the London borough of Deptford.
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The Sin Eater's Daughter is a young adult fantasy trilogy written by British YA author Melinda Salisbury and published by Scholastic Press. The first book in the trilogy, The Sin Eater's Daughter, was published in 2015 on 24 February and marked Salisbury's first book in print. The second book in the trilogy, The Sleeping Prince, was published the following year. A short story prequel, The King of Rats, was also released that year but only as an exclusive print edition at Young Adult Literature Convention in London. The third and final book in the trilogy, The Scarecrow Queen, was released in 2017. Later in 2017, a short story collection set in the same world, The Heart Collector, was released. This included The King of Rats and two brand new short stories entitled The Heart Collector and Mully No-Hands.